I have a great story for y'all. Carson has been coming into his own, growing up and becoming a good farm dog. When he was younger, the other dogs would bark and run towards danger, Carson would bark over his shoulder as he ran towards the house. Gradually he gained confidence and joined Paris and Trip running up and down the fence line barking at trucks and other elements of danger.
We went out of town for Christmas, we left Christmas eve morning and came back the day after Christmas. Our neighbor Robert was taking care of the animals. At 8:30 Christmas Eve, Neighbor Jimmy called me and said that our dogs were going nuts, he walked over to the fence, didn't see anything. His home and 2 acres backs up to our fence. I thanked him for watching out for us while we were gone. I called Neighbor Ron and asked if his dogs were barking and upset. He said no, and promised to watch out for us while we were gone. Around 10 that night, Neighbor Robert heard our dogs raising a ruckus and drove over to our house. All the dogs were upset, but he didn't see anything. He told me this the next day, Christmas. Sentry the puppy was in Pasture #1 and could go in a section of the barn. Trip and Paris had the run of the back yard, side pasture and could go up to the back of the sheep barn. Carson had the run of the front yard, about an acre, fenced. Even though none of the dogs were in the barn with the sheep, they were on all sides of the barn.
Neighbor Ron called Christmas morning to tell me that at 1:00 AM our dogs were barking like mad, so he got up and drove up to our gate and walked inside. Carson had bayed a bobcat up against the stock trailer! As Ron walked up the driveway, Carson turned his head towards Ron and the bobcat took off. We had a one week old lamb that would have made the bobcat a nice meal. Ron looked around to make sure that everything was ok. He said that Carson acted like he didn't want him on our property (and normally they are friends) so he kept his distance while he checked things out, then left.
So it seems the bobcat was on our place the first time the dogs made a lot of noise, when Jimmy walked to the fence, the bobcat ran off. Likewise when Robert came over to see what was wrong, the bobcat saw him and left. When Ron came over, Carson had the bobcat bayed and Ron saw it.
We are grateful to our good neighbors for looking out for us while we were gone. We are proud of our dogs for keeping the bobcat away from the sheep. We are impressed beyond words with Carson and how he patrolled the yard and stopped the bobcat. Our puppy has grown up. He ain't a scaredy baby any more!
@seedcorn